


You better run, better run, faster than my bullet

by Aaronlisa



Category: Fright Night (2011)
Genre: Dubious Consent, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-27
Updated: 2011-12-27
Packaged: 2017-10-28 05:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/304459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronlisa/pseuds/Aaronlisa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Charley had listened to Peter and ran instead of staying to fight?</p>
            </blockquote>





	You better run, better run, faster than my bullet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [toesohnoes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/toesohnoes/gifts).



> Please be warned that there's swearing, dubious consent, very minor blood play, and implied prostitution in this fic.

Charley is momentarily stunned into silence by Peter's reaction to his words.

"Bravo," Peter says as he claps his hands together. "Look if you want to go get yourself killed, be my guest. But this vampire hasn't survived as long as he has because he's stupid. He has your girlfriend and this isn't some fucking movie where you're going to play the fucking hero and somehow manage to save the day. If you go there, you're going to be slaughtered."

"I'm not a coward," Charley determinedly says.

"No, you're a bloody fool. You go to his liar and it'll end up in one of two ways: you'll either be dead or you'll be a vampire by dawn. Either way, Jerry wins and you lose."

"So what then? Should I be like you and just run away?"

"Fuck," Peter curses as he takes a long swallow of his Midori. "Haven't you ever heard that discretion is the better part of valor? So you run away, that doesn't make you a coward. Let go of your daddy issues, Charley, and realize that you're committing suicide by going after this vampire."

"This has nothing to do with my father."

"Really? Then instead of playing the foolish hero, start realizing that your mother needs you. What do you think will happen to her if you fail?"

Peter watches as the boy's face falls with the realization that if he fails, there's no one left to keep her safe from Jerry. He takes another swig of the Midori before he drives his point home. Even if he's not sure why saving this stubborn kid is so important, Peter feels that it's the last thing he can do.

"Is Amy worth endangering your mother? By this time, she's probably been turned. There's no way you can turn her back into a human. If I even thought you had the slightest chance, I'd tell you. But you don't Charley, your only chance of surviving is by running."

"There's no way my mom will run."

Peter can hear the hesitation in Charley's voice. He's starting to break the boy and convince him of the right way to do things.

"Then run without her. It seems to me that you're the one with the target on your chest. Amy and your mother are just collateral damage."

"I can't take that risk."

"Fine, you run and I'll convince your mom to leave town," Peter tiredly says.

The kid nods and Peter feels a silver of hope. Maybe the kid will actually survive. Peter hands over money and the keys to one of his less flashy cars. It'll give the kid a head start.

"Are you sure?" Charley asks.

"Fuck, yes I'm sure. That bastard killed my family. I've managed to survive this long because I've stayed out of his way. Get out of town and put as many miles between you and Jerry while you still can."

Peter makes sure that the kid has a temporary way of contacting only because he knows that the kid will probably try to do something stupid if he isn't reassured that his mother is safe. He's not even certain if he should try to save her, for all he knows it could be another trap. Vampires like Jerry tend to leave nothing but death and chaos in their wakes. Still a promise is a promise and he doesn't want Charley Brewster on his conscious.

* * *

Four years have passed since Las Vegas and sometimes Charley thinks that it was all some nightmare, that vampires aren't real. Yet he reads things in the newspapers that give him pause. There's always an article or two to be found on the back pages of the newspaper about some random attack where someone got hurt or murdered and the authorities are stumped. The attack is usually animalistic in nature but the evidence points to a human attacker. Typically a random article isn't enough to make him run but if the articles start to add him, he'll hit the road.

He's come to discover that most vampires are solitary and transient by nature. He's even managed to kill a few. None of them were familiar to him and he's pretty sure that all of them were young vampires. Charley's left everything about Las Vegas behind him yet every now and then he'll scan a crowd for a familiar face: his mother, Peter, Amy, Adam or even Mark and Ben. It gets worse when he knows that there are vampires in town. He's pretty certain that Jerry and his pack have moved on from Las Vegas. And what's worse is that Charley's not even sure what he'd do if he did catch a glimpse of a familiar face. Would he run or would he stay?

It's been four years since Las Vegas and he's become a shadow of Jerry in many ways. He's nocturnal, solitary and transient. In some ways, Charley can understand the drive to build up a family. Although creating his own family is a risk that he dares not take. He's careful to never get attached to anyone: no friends, no girlfriend, it's the only way he can assure that no one else will be collateral damage if Jerry catches up to him.

After leaving Las Vegas, he only talked to Peter twice. Once to confirm that his mother was safe and once for Peter to explain a few things about surviving to him. After that Peter Vincent and Jane Brewster disappeared just like Charley Brewster did. His name changes as he drifts from town to town. It's never a good thing to stay anywhere for too long. The only downside is that the money that he had pulled from his own bank account and the money that Peter had given him didn't last long. Even with Charley being careful, he found himself broke. Sometimes when he's lucky, he's able to find a job where the employer is okay with paying him under the table for a few days wages. And most of the time he's pretty lucky. He makes enough cash working odd jobs to survive.

Four years after Las Vegas though, Charley finds himself in Los Angeles and very unlucky. No one wants to hire him. And based on the newspaper reports that Charley's been reading all week long, he needs money to get out of town. There's a vampire on the loose and Charley has no desire to stay in LA to find if it's one from Las Vegas or not.

He doesn't want to hit the streets, even if means that he can probably make the money that he needs so he can leave LA behind him. Yet he can't stay in this city. There's something horribly familiar about some of the news reports that he's read and watched on the TV. Something that makes him think about Las Vegas four years ago and how it all started back then.

Still he has no other choice, so he hits the streets and hopes that he can make enough money to get out of town before his past catches up with him.

* * *

The truck pulls up about an hour and half after Charley had hit the streets. And he knows that he has no choice but to get into the truck. Either way, Jerry's found him and he can't run anymore.

"Hey guy," Jerry says as Charley slips into the passenger seat. "I didn't expect to find you here."

Jerry laughs as Charley stares ahead stonily, refusing to respond. Charley bites his lower lips, desperate not to ask what happens now. It doesn't really matter, he suspects, he's been caught and that's that.

"Aren't you going to ask about Amy?" Jerry asks.

"What's the point?"

"I was a little disappointed that you couldn't be bothered to save her," Jerry says. "Although I think she was more upset about it than I was, guy."

Charley feels guilty, he had left his girlfriend in the hands of a monster. He wonders what would have happened had he stayed behind in Las Vegas, if he had stayed instead of running. He won't ask though if she's dead or if she's a vampire. Charley refuses to play the game that Jerry's trying to force him into playing.

"Don't have anything to say?" Jerry asks.

Charley can hear the anger in the vampire's voice but he bites his lip and shakes his head. He's trying to figure out if there's any chance of escape. He has a vial of holy water in his bag and a sharp knife as well. But neither are enough to keep Jerry off of his trail for long. If anything, both items will only serve to infuriate the vampire more. Charley thinks about that night when he had faced off with Jerry. The only thing that had saved him in the end had been the dawn. If there had been a few more hours of night, Charley's certain that Jerry would have found him.

"Aren't you curious about Amy at all?"

"Not really," Charley finally says. "Haven't thought of her in years."

It's a lie because every single day starts out with Charley thinking of all the people he failed back in Las Vegas four years ago. It begins with Doris and ends with his mother. Amy and Ed are both sandwiched somewhere in between his former neighbour and Jane Brewster. He has no desire to admit to Jerry that he thinks about his girlfriend, that some nights he even dreams that he had been able to save her from Jerry.

"You've changed," Jerry disappointedly says.

Charley shrugs. It makes him wonder if Jerry thought he'd find the same Charley from four years ago, the Charley that had wanted to fight him because it would have been the right thing to do. That Charley died when he ran away from Las Vegas when Peter Vincent had told him that it would keep his mother safe.

Jerry growls and Charley can't hide the response that his body has. He trembles in fear because he thinks that this is it. The vampire sitting beside him is going to kill him. If he's lucky, he'll be dead and not turned. And if he continues to be unlucky, well he can only hope that he won't be himself anymore after he's turned.

The silence that wraps around them is thick and heavy and Charley figures there's no point for him to try to convince Jerry why he shouldn't kill him. It'd be like telling a shark to not be a shark. When Jerry pulls into the parking lot of a cheap motel, Charley's slightly surprised but he does his best to hide it. He doesn't even need the command from Jerry to stay put. It's night, there's no point in trying to run. There's about six more hours before the dawn, there's no way he can out run Jerry.

"Get out of the tuck," Jerry orders.

Charley responds and Jerry ushers him into the motel room. Jerry throws him up against the wall and Charley barely even blinks in response.

"What happened to you guy?" Jerry demands.

"You did," Charley says.

"You were all ready to fight me but then you ran. Was that Vincent's doing?"

Charley shrugs. "He made me see the futility of trying to take you on."

"He's a coward," Jerry says.

"He's managed to survive this long, hasn't he?" Charley spits out.

Jerry's hands are clawed and Charley winces when the vampire grabs his shoulders and gently shakes him.

"Wake up guy," Jerry says. "I could kill you and you act like a lamb at the slaughter."

"Why should I fight?"

Charley figures the quickest way to get it over with, is to make it as boring as possible for Jerry. He doesn't want to be a challenge or fun. If he's boring, then maybe he'll just wind up being nothing more than a meal. His stomach clenches in some indescribable emotion when Jerry presses his face against the curve of Charley's neck. It's not that he wants to die, because he doesn't think that he does but he doesn't see anyway out of this mess.

He can't help but think that maybe he should have gone to Jerry's liar all those years ago at least he could have died trying to stop this monster. Jerry growls against his neck and it makes Charley feel things that he doesn't want to.

"Are you still a good little boy? Still pure and sweet?" Jerry asks. His voice is muffled against the curve of his neck and Charley can feel the light press of fangs against his skin.

"What do you think?" Charley asks. "You found me on that particular strip."

"Doesn't mean that you sold every last bit of your self."

He hasn't. But Jerry doesn't need to know that. Jerry doesn't need to know that he's managed to keep something to himself even if he's had to sell himself to make ends meet. Jerry doesn't need to know that Charley's never been quite that desperate to sell his virginity.

"If you were that desperate, you could have just come to me, I would have given you what you wanted, guy," Jerry says.

"Thanks but no thanks."

"Are you certain? You were rather obvious with your need to impress me."

Charley tenses against the wall and the vampire and he wants to say something. To deny the fact that he had been trying to impress the new neighbour that his mother was flirting with. But it'd be a lie. There had been something about Jerry, even before Charley had realized the truth about him, that had made Charley desperate. Jerry had made him feel things that only Amy had ever really made him feel. Later on, years and miles away from Las Vegas, Charley will avoid thinking about it but at the time, he had started to question who he was.

"You were so desperate to play the man but like I told you it was a lot to put on the shoulders of a kid."

"Fuck you," Charley says.

He's tired of this trip down memory lane. He doesn't want to remember that even with the discovery that Jerry was a vampire that he had found his deadly neighbour attractive.

"We'll get to that soon enough," Jerry promises.

Charley tenses again and he wants to push Jerry away but he knows he can't. Instead he thinks about the knife in his bag, if he can just get to it, he can end this once and for all. Jerry might be toying with him in the same way that a cat toys with a mouse, but Charley can easily take all the fun out of the game if he's quick enough to use the sharp blade on the knife.

Jerry drags his tongue across the tender skin of his neck and Charley thinks that this is it. He shifts so that he can reach his bag but the sensation of Jerry's fangs pricking his skin makes him forget about the knife and the bag. There's nothing but a sharp pain and then a strange sensation as Jerry sucks blood from the shallow wound. There's no thrill or desire racing in Charley's body but the feeling of Jerry drinking from him holds him still.

"You taste even better than Amy did," Jerry tells him when he pulls away.

Jerry moves away from Charley and it's all the distraction that Charley needs. He pulls out the knife from his bag but before he can use it. Jerry has one hand pinned above Charley's head. His wrist aches with the pressure that Jerry uses as he squeezes his wrist. Eventually Charley drops the knife and it clatters to the floor.

"You're mine," Jerry snarls, his eyes pitch black. "Don't think you're going to do anything to change that."

Jerry sends him sprawling to the bed and Charley watches as he rummages through Charley's bag. He finds the small bottle of holy water and Jerry grimaces as he hold the bottle carefully. Charley feels numb as he watches as Jerry pours the contents down the bathroom sink. He knows that it'd barely stop Jerry but at least it was a weapon, now he has nothing.

Charley avoids looking at Jerry when the vampire crosses back to the bed. He can feel the weight of Jerry's eyes on him and he can't help but wonder why he ran away in the first place. If it was going to end like this, it would have been better to die fighting than waiting for his own death.

Jerry sighs as he sinks down on the mattress. Charley's body tenses and he thinks that this is it. This is the end of the road. He hadn't run far enough or fast enough. Maybe he should have tried getting out of the country, it had seemed to work for Peter. Then again he was a seventeen year old kid, he doubted he would have been able to flee if he had tried.

"I am not going to kill you, guy," Jerry finally says.

Charley looks at him in confusion. Before he can say anything, Jerry's hand presses on his shoulder, holding him down as Jerry moves so that he can access his neck again.

"There'd be no point, you're already dead on the inside, aren't you?" Jerry asks.

Charley tries not to enjoy the sensation of Jerry's tongue licking his neck but he can't help the emotions that it stirs inside of him.

"I could turn you but that'd be no fun," Jerry murmurs against Charley's neck. "So tell me guy what I should do with you."

Even Charley's not certain. He had always thought that if he came across Jerry, it'd end in one of two ways. He'd be dead or he'd be turned. There's a part of the old Charley that surfaces for a brief moment.

"You could let me kill you," Charley says.

Jerry laughs before he nips at Charley's neck with blunt teeth. The sensation burns down Charley's spine and he gasps at the pleasure it causes.

"I don't think so," Jerry says. "Amy might miss me."

The words hit their mark but Charley doesn't say anything since Jerry's fangs have nicked his skin again. Jerry watches the trickle of blood that trails down the curve of Charley's neck. His eyes are pitch black and Charley hates him for making him feel this way, for reminding him about Amy. He's failed everyone that he's ever cared about and he's getting off on the fact that Jerry is focused on him.

Before Charley can think of something clever to say, something that the old Charley might have said, Jerry's laying half on top of him, his tongue licking up every single drop of blood as he grinds his pelvis down on Charley. And Charley gasps at the sensation. He knows that before this night is over, Jerry will take everything that he has to offer.

"You're mine, Charley, you'd best remember that," Jerry says. "I'll let you live and even run away again as long as you remember that."

"You don't own me," Charley protests.

"Oh but I do. And don't bother denying it either. You know it just as well as I do."

The fact is simple enough: Charley knows the truth and he's pretty certain that Jerry's speaking it.

"Is my mother still alive?" Charley asks.

"Very much alive," Jerry tells him. "Vincent keeps her safe and comfortable away from vampires."

And in that statement, Charley realizes that Peter Vincent had sold him out years ago, he just didn't know it at the time. It causes him to struggle, to try to fight with the vampire, it doesn't matter that his struggles are futile and that Jerry is stronger than he'll ever be. Jerry chuckles before pinning Charley to the bed.

"Did you really think that he'd save your mother and keep her safe from me? Oh he tried but at the end of the day, Peter's nothing more than a victim. He always has been and always will be. I let him think that he outwitted me but he's not very clever."

"What do you want?" Charley demands, still struggling against Jerry.

"You," Jerry says, his mouth full of razor sharp fangs that cause Charley to still in terror.

This is just like every nightmare that he's ever had since Las Vegas and despite what Jerry tells him, Charley's certain that this is the end. Yet Jerry's deceptively gentle with him. He makes his claim of Charley evident but he is careful to ensure that Charley doesn't drink a drop of his own blood and Jerry only ever takes small sips of blood from his neck.

* * *

Charley's not sure of how much time has passed since he finally lost consciousness and waking up. He can see the hint of sun streaming in through a crack in the curtains and he realizes that he's alone. His whole body is tender and bruised. Yet he's alive.

He somehow manages to stagger to the bathroom and as he looks in the mirror at his body, he can see the evidence of Jerry claiming him as his own. Charley decides that he needs to leave town now. Put as much as distance between LA and himself as he can. He's done this before and it doesn't matter that no matter how hard he tries to hide, Jerry will find him again.

((END))


End file.
